I am a foreign property owner: blog readers know I own a “snowbird” condo in Florida, where I spend most of the winter.
I am not alone.
Over a million Canadian snowbirds migrate to the U.S. each year.
They are not alone.
In my 16-unit garden condo building, there are eight permanent American residents, three Canadian owners, three US snowbirds, one South American and one Australian.
International home buyers spent $56 Billion on homes in the U.S. between April 2024 and March 2025 .. UP 33% from the year before. Foreigners spent $12.6 Billion to buy 19,500 housing units in Florida alone from 2022-2023.
True: some long-time Canadian snowbirds have been selling lately, not just because of Trump’s tariffs/insults/US immigration aggressivity, but also the low Canadian dollar and increasing Travel Health coverage costs. But even those who sell, their units are often sold to other US-state snowbirds.
And unlike the BC NDP government and the federal Liberal government, Florida legislators, city officials, businesses and even most residents welcome the “outsiders”.
So do the governments/businesses/taxpayers of Arizona, California, Hawaii, several other states and the countries of Mexico, Costa Rica, the Caribbean Islands, Spain, Portugal and others.
Why?
The obvious benefit is the hundreds of thousands of jobs (retail, restaurants, bars, entertainment, golf courses etc.) that out-of-state home/condo owners support during the months they visit.
But that’s just part of it.
There’s another little secret why so many governments love out-of-state property owners.
In Florida, for example, permanent home/condo owners qualify for reduced “Homesteader” property tax rates that remain forever based on their original purchase price: “outsiders” pay full taxes that increase as values rise..
So Floridians, unlike British Columbians, realize the huge benefit of having millions of people paying FULL property taxes for the FULL year, while using city/county services for only a few months … or not at all.
That includes schools, transit, social services, health programs/inspections, consumer protection enforcements, police, fire, Courts, environmental improvements, public administration, water/sewers, libraries, arts and culture facilities, public wifi etc. etc. … all HEAVILY paid for by outside investors, SUBSIDIZING to the tune of billions of tax dollars each year Florida government services.
Snowbirds also pay year-round condo fees that cover (subsidize) property maintenance costs, recreation facilities, security services etc. they use for only a few months.
Not to mention the billions in sales taxes they pay on goods services. food, entertainment, tourism when in town … plus all the jobs they provide.
In fact, snowbirds and visitors contribute so much revenue to Florida, there is no state income tax.
Think about that, BC and Canadian taxpayers!!!
Meanwhile in BC, thousands of already-built condo units sit empty (https://www.biv.com/news/real-estate/unsold-condos-piling-up-in-metro-vancouver-says-report-10532962) … and new projects have been postponed or cancelled … because of the federal Liberal government’s foreign-buyers housing ban and NDP Premier David Eby supporting that policy.
” We are not going back to the old model of doing things,” Eby was quoted in The Vancouver Sun two weeks ago. “Under the previous (provincial) government, the idea was if you welcome foreign investment into real estate, everybody’s going to benefit.
“And what we saw was real estate prices became completely detached from what people are actually able to earn in British Columbia, meaning that young people are priced-out of the housing market, and those prices are incredibly sticky.”
Eby did not explain how shutting out foreign buyers, developers not developing, architects not designing, builders not building, elevator suppliers not manufacturing and installing , electricians and plumbers not outfitting, furnishings and appliance wholesalers/retailers not providing … and the apartment stock not expanding will increase supply and bring down BC rental prices.
Or add billions of dollars to municipal bank accounts, from foreign investors who pay FULL municipal and regional property taxes, plus in many cases an Empty Homes Tax premium, to contribute to the costs of the few … or sometimes no … public services they actually use.
Harv Oberfeld
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 Check the labels! Buy Canadian! 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
(Follow @harveyoberfeld on “X” for FREE First Alerts to new postings on this BC blog.)
Countries with foreign ownership restrictions.
Austria, Hungary, Vietnam, Greece, Denmark, Canada, Australia,
Cyprus, UAE. Malta, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Lithuania, New Zealand, Finland, Switzerland, Montenegro, Estonia.
Is there a housing shortage in Florida?
Affordability issues?
Until units are available and rents are reasonable.
Hammer foreign absentee ownership.
Buying a multimillion dollar homes or condos and leaving it empty to rot….as part of “investment speculation” is absurd.
(Response: No. In fact, because there are thousands of condo buildings almost all the way up and down their coasts, that’s what keeps prices in check and raises so much money from property taxes (local and foreign owners) they don’t have ANY state income tax! Ho)
In Miami Beach property taxes double if not resident .but that was 2017
(Response: It’s still higher …much higher …for non-residents …sometimes triple what Florida residents pay. Yet they keep selling and there are so many of them, all paying property taxes, Florida has no state income tax! Ho)
What can I say except we have what we elected and we’re paying the price. Idiots in charge … elections can’t come coon enough.
(Response: I’m not sure, though, that even the Opposition parties, at the municipal, provincial or federal levels, are ready to make the hard decisions and give up or substantially reduce the huge development charges and lift the ban on foreign investors to encourage more construction and enlarge the housing supply. Ho)
So I ask where’s the factors or situation orredline that will bring in not just more supply but actually supply at much lowered cost to actualy help build lower cost housing. Where is that missing part of the puzzle. I don’t see it and I’m lost on that one like most of it for reducing house prices in general. Personally I think the big powers that be in the real estate, financial, and investment market are making to much money from the falsely inflated market they helped initiate along with a tone deaf willfully blind governments that don’t want to touch it with a ten foot pole. Regular homeowners love the equity lottery win from their homes and I dont blame them they didn’t bring it on, it just fell in their laps, but we have to face it, this is a false market and it is just unsustainable. I get the supply and demand thing, but it’s not that easy to change when the people at the top of the rung hold the purse strings while they are raking what left of this big moolah market.
Housing creation was my occupation for many years. Many items have changed in my years of building.
1. Governments of all 3 elected levels have all abdicated responsibilities while all increasing taxation from housing! Throw in appointed quasi-government agencies (Metro for example) mostly created to apparently streamline shared infrastructure such as water & sewer. Now having morphed into a semi-retirement cash cow for unqualified city employees, we now begin to see the rotten fruit of this agency with N. Van’s sewage mess. I recall days when bid depositories handled contracts, contracts which were always separate entities doing design, engineer & build out of projects, now single entities and all projects are well over budget and late! The old bid depository system was replaced by the new model which has improved what? Crickets is the only answer!
Foreign investment has created a entirely new group of entitled, over compensated, speculators and many corporate entities who profit heavily while ignoring the societal cost of their pursuit of sometimes morally questionable profit margins. The number one advantage takers of unchecked foreign investment are the realtors! What percentage of all mortgage monies in Canada was borrowed to pay realtors? Factor in folks who purchase multiple properties as the climb the ownership ladder. 5-7% of most purchases are realty fees, yes sellers remit them, but purchasers pay the gross amount with a healthy remittance to realtors. Desk fees are 50% of the gross realty fees, in many instances.
The case for a standardized, Province wide building code with much less nonsense than seen today from municipal councils is super obvious to all but the participants, we all pay massively for this farm team lead approach, time to step up and clear the obstacles, many of which incur large costs.
Tradespeople, a shortage of epic proportions with no real world solution offered by anyone! The last of the boomers hit 65 in a couple more years, younger trades are not replacing this retiring talent pool. Why not take 3 foreign student addicted universities and convert them to trades schools? Surely the cutback in foreign student enrolment, in conjunction with the looming trades shortage can be coupled to keep facilities open and begin to address looming shortages in the labor pool?
And finally the biggest pile of excrement in the whole housing dilemma, government funded housing builds! When the government gets into building housing in current conditions, they steal skilled trades from private employers, further exacerbating skilled employee shortages industry wide. Also government projects don’t have to show a profit, can obtain endless budgetary top ups if enough excuses are offered up, while taking employees from tax paying private firms.
Private firms built 95% of Canada’s structures, now johnny come lately, government funded, employee swiping, budgetary ignorant entities are going to save the housing industry??? A bigger load of bovine excrement is hard to fathom!
(Response: Quite an indictment! I appreciate your experienced observations and agree more trade schools would be good but I still wonder then what are the specific solutions governments at all levels could implement right now to produce more housing …and at affordable prices? That’s the dilemma. Ho)
Great comment. I love when people in the field share knowledge and experience. Most people propose easy fixes because we have such limited understanding. Thanks for contributing.
“Why not take 3 foreign student addicted universities and convert them to trades schools?”
There are not enough instructors to fill current trade school vacancies. BCIT has long running openings in several building trades.
An opening for “multiple” electrical instructors has been running for more than a year.
Some trades classes are double the usual size.
And here is another new world problem. In the entry level apprenticeship classes, students are failing and/or dropping at an alarming rate because they do not know how to study, won’t work in class, or are undisciplined about attendance.
Carried over into the workplace, those habits add to length and cost of housing builds.
Trades curriculum at BCIT is a personal sore spot. I’ve battled with the admins there a couple of decades ago over trig. Formula math is simple to teach but offers no self correcting aspect like long form trig does. Now long form is back, having to battle to maintain a safety oriented culture there was ridiculous. The potential for a serious safety issue was swept under the carpet of “easier to teach” not “safest path forward”.
Shortage of instructors is caused by a severe lack of compensation at BCIT. A decent electrician with FSR designation makes $135,000\yr. Would you rather work in the field or babysit a hoard of petulant children?
Our universities have had too long a term of focusing on educating folks from other nations, this requires a reset and new focus on educating for real domestic needs. We cannot expect construction to utilize 50% TFW’s, as some are forced to do. Skilled trades is one issue, unskilled labor is also an issue.
Cohorts in the industry in Vancouver are on the verge of tapping out and moving to their cottages, only the heavily politically invested construction firms seem immune to labor shortages. The skill deficit is larger than any point in the past 50 years.
DCC fees have become a selectively charged item. Thousands of new condos in Vanier park, no DCC fees for sewer and water????
Don’t forget the many differing bylaws which add heavily to construction costs & delays. Standardizing regulations and creating a consistent level of such will increase efficiency, will cut costs (I always passed along time spent learning different bylaws for different municipalities onto my clients, as any sage businessman would do), all adding to upwards pricing pressure.
The trade classes which are double the size seems like a need for more schools is readily apparent, cut a few admin folks and hire more instructors.
@RIssak
I agree with your comment as it is the same that has been told to me.
Metro Vancouver has now become a repository for the so incompetent that they cannot get a job in the real world. I will go so far to say that metro Vancouver will become the noose around Eby’s neck as the next bit of insanity is soon to hit the fan, fireplaces!
I have been told stories by professionals how bad the situation is in metro Vancouver and the municipal cites, which boils down to bureacrats more concerned about their pension plans than serving the public.
The failure to have any coherent social housing program will come back to bite us hard, as we let wages for bureacrats spiral out of control.
The failure of the provincial government to address the concerns, especially the destruction of Broadway as a livable area, will haunt politcans for decades.
There is a lot more to be said but a lot would be dismissed as fake news, or cliched hype, but it is not.
Using Florida as an example for letting foreign buyers into our housing market is, somewhat naive.
$4K a month rent for a two bedroom flat in downtown Vancouver is beyond what most locals can pay.
The problem is far more complicated and needs realistic solutions and foreign money is just not one of them.
Here is a theory for you and it is based on a book by Ian Kumekawa titled Empty Vessel – The Story of the Global Economy in one Barge. https://youtu.be/GPFJctvZqwA?si=kLbi3lQDM_DHXLeJ if you are interested.
Sometime during the eighties and nineties housing in Canada, the US, England and several other countries lost its utility. It was no longer a shelter or home but became a financial asset to investors, cities, developers, and home owners. Investors searched the world to find places to invest their funds that were safe, provided a good return, and could easily be converted to a cash asset either through a direct sale or borrowing against the asset (Yale Town). Cities used the development fees to fund infrastructure and in some ways to support their growing bureaucracy and increasing salary structure (most lower mainland cities). Developers used the investments to build the projects, plan for their next projects, and become wealthier (any number of developers). Home owners used the appreciating home asset to finance lifestyles (who has not heard from the mortgage holder that your house value has gone up and you can borrow more money).
Will it change, I think not, given the inequality in Canada (CBC report The agency said the difference in the share of disposable income between households in the top 40 per cent of the income distribution and the bottom 40 per cent grew to 49 percentage points in the first three months of the year).https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/statistics-canada-income-gap-1.7586634. The top 40% percent can continue to participate in the housing market, they have the incomes and resources.
The next 40% will not enter the housing market other than through subsidized public housing, built by the investors and developers, and paid for by government. Housing they may or not may not own. We have an 11 story building in our community, built for subsidized housing now sitting empty because the developer used the wrong heating system and did not qualify for a BC Housing contract. The bottom 20% will either be unhoused (homeless) or in marginal housing far from the centre of cities.
(Response: Very interesting. Whether people can afford to buy a home or condo depends on many factors, including location, local supply, pricing and mortgage rates. I did hear today the federal government is looking at helping cities cover the ever-increasing and in many cases now outrageous infrastructure development cost charges. That could bring down costs somewhat, but I really believe increasing supply, especially for rentals, is also needed and one way to do that is to re-open our market to foreign investors, looking to rent them out. Ho)
I think investors in real estate on whatever level may be really giving BC a hard look and even elsewhere in Canada after the major court ruling on First Nations land ownership in Richmond BC that may be throwing the door wide open and setting the dye for more land ownership transfer across BC even throwing private property rights of possibly all British Columbians into uncertainty. With this insanity fomented and led by this extremist activist nutjobs of the now Eby government that has completely abdicated from thier duties and mandate to work for the interests of all British Columbians and the majority. Reconciliation gone crazy led by the crazy. Who the hell is going put there money knowing nothing private ownership rights is secure. I sure as hell wouldn’t. Government talks the talk about trying to fix things but with the other hand they are stabbing all people in the back and causing more division. Maniacs.
Interesting opinion article in August 15 Sun by Robin Junger. He is a former chief provincial treaty negotiator, former deputy minister of energy and is now a lawyer with McMillan LLP.
Junger argues that “One of the most important issues in this case was whether Aboriginal title was “extinguished” when the private ownership was created over the lands by the government in the 1800s.
Yet the court expressly noted B.C. did not argue this, stating: “B.C. does not argue extinguishment. Rather, B.C. says the content of any Aboriginal title rights that the Cowichan may have today is necessarily limited by the fee simple interests.”
Similarly, the federal government also backed off this issue. The court stated: “Canada initially pled extinguishment but abandoned its reliance on this defence in its amended response to civil claim filed Nov. 22, 2018.” (from the article)
Junger notes both BC and the Federal government lawyers were bound by directives that stated “these directives on civil litigation involving Indigenous Peoples … to ensure government lawyers take an approach to litigation that upholds the honour of the Crown and Crown obligations to Indigenous peoples and seek negotiated resolutions that uphold Indigenous human rights and Aboriginal rights … unilateral extinguishment is not consistent with the honour of the Crown or with the UN Declaration. … ” The Federal Government had similar directives and thus neither party advanced ” arguments based upon the unilateral extinguishment of Aboriginal rights.” Only the City of Richmond did.
Sorry but you are comparing apples to oranges and your take of what happened in Vancouver is way off the mark. Foreign $ spiked housing costs for $ and profits not homes. And by giving away major concessions the cities have left a huge hole in the infrastructure required to support all these new deposit boxes in the sky.
https://nationalpost.com/news/a-skeptic-on-the-housing-crisis-the-developer-is-the-good-guy?itm_source=index
(Response: I agree expended infrastructure costs must be covered by new projects, but something sure looks wrong to me when Vancouver charges $126,000 for each 800-square feet per suite in, say, a 20 or 30 story building. Ridiculous. As for blaming foreign investor purchasers for rising prices, that’s a red herring. We banned them …and what happened: thousands of suite sitting empty with no buyers, new projects postponed or cancelled … and prices barely budging. The math is quite simple: more investors, more construction, more realistic development charges will bring more supply …and lower (or at least stable) prices. Ho)
>>The obvious benefit is the hundreds of thousands of jobs (retail, restaurants, bars, entertainment, golf courses etc.) that out-of-state home/condo owners support 𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁.
>>Not to mention the billions in sales taxes they pay on goods services. food, entertainment, tourism when in town … plus all the jobs they provide.
I’ve created this little discovery game, where every Monday morning I open Keeping it Real and see how deep I need to read before “let’s blame the NDP” emerges.
I’m never disappointed, even if the topic is the Oddfellows charity pancake breakfast, the NDP will be the reason for a bad blueberry. If not added to the main body, certainly the regulars lined up to be first responders, will find the boogey man, before the end of the second reply.
Comparing the BC situation to Kissimmee and Hollywood Beach is stretchier than Roseanne Barr’s Lululemon leggings.
Vancouver’s and subsequently BC’s housing issues began with in 1987, with Li Ka-shing, Grace McCarthy, your buddy Bill Vander Zalm, Bennett, and all the other greedy bastards of all political stripes. Money laundering, real estate shams, blind casino overseers all lead by that arrogant flim-flam master Rich Coleman.
I lived in Yaletown through that post expo era, up to 2015. Condos units were being built by the hundreds, driving prices up with pre-sale bidding wars and aftermarket flipping. 90% of them sat empty and the owners never visited, so none of those Florida benefits.
Only when fed up local families pushed back hard was anything done, and it was a decade too late.
BC and Vancouver have no seasonal second home market, like those places with year-round sun, surf and poutine.
We live in a 2-4 week, holiday destination province and an area where naïve citizens believe things like FIFA will enhance our lives and create new jobs and housing opportunities, to keep the young ones from fleeing to Ontario.
Sometimes I think you couldn’t possibly mean what you say and so are just stirring the pot. And there is certainly nothing wrong with that, it makes for good comedy.
(Response: You may want to get checked out for paranoia. My blog last week was on Mahmoud Abbas and Carney; the week before that was on Alberta voters and Poilievre; and the week before that was on First Nations blocking major Canada export projects. Nope ..not the BC NDP! And before you read the current blog, you should have noticed: there IS a serious problem now with housing construction and sales both slowing in BC (and Canada)… and my focus is on Vancouver’s (ABC government), the province (NDP government) and the federal government (Liberal government) ALL have policies that have hurt, not helped solve the problems facing the industry. I can’t help it that the NDP is in power provincially (although I tried to change that this past provincial election!) so I can’t blame (much as you might prefer) the Conservatives for BC policies that are blocking/hindering housing/condo construction and affordability! And although NDP Premier David Eby (quoted in my piece) vowed there’s “no going back” … I can’t seem to find evidence of NDP policies (they’ve been in power since 2017!) that are making things better! So why wouldn’t I hold them responsible … even if it disturbs their partisan supporters. Ho)
The housing unaffordability crisis can be solved but we don’t have any Political leadership that has an ounce of guts to tackle it head on because it is not political. Everything is about those spineless wonders who’s only task is to keep themselves in power. They would rather see the people suffer than sacrifice themselves to the alter of doing right. I will try to contribute myself as to what I see as a possible part solution even though unpopular as it may be, I would rather not just complain, but actually give an idea at least. In th beginning as I see it around the time Trudeau got in immigration levels were aloud to sore and foreign investment in real estate was let loose upon us for the mainly sole purpose of buying up stock. Add in a despicable wilfully blind governance allowing it to happen and a unbelievably greedy financial banking and real-estate industry waiting like parasites and vultures for the money to roll into their vaults we now have not a new normal, but a new abnormal. I would yes supply must pick up, but it is not near enough to qeull the overpopulation and growing demand to supply ratio. It’s just to far ahead of us. I think as unpopular as it may sound, a government leadership with a spine could actually take over temporarily because of the crisis and for future young families and generations interests, the benchmark prices could be legislated to be slashed down to more affordable prices for the sake of those young people and their futures. Not for our sakes but for them. A reset of some sort needs to be implemented. Not tax tax tax and more tax. No more lying by politicians just get elected and then continue lying to keep thier jobs. Investment in our country can still be top notch, but done with responsibilities that comes with it and with oversight. Imagine the billions of dollars over the years that has been sqaundered by politicians and their beuracracies through incompetence, self interst, special interest hand outs, that far exceeds the interests of the nation as a whole, gross mismanagement, and even ideoligical purposes and messed up ones at that. That money could have gone to helping people and businesses and innovations and ideas for them in supply cost cutting measures. I could even see if a legislated housing price slash were implemented then the market and peoples buying power and mortgages, and revenue spin-offs and business earnings would begin an upward trend right away. But I get it people don’t want see their equity go downwards. Their use to the new inflated piggy bank. It not homeowners fault for the windfall, but it is a false bloated market. Younger generations and families who have nothing to help them get a leg up are most likely a majority and would be able to get that leg up and begin the contribution process and now spend to create more spinoffs. As I said a reset of some sort is not out of the realm of possibility at all. We have the brains out there, but it just takes political guts to implement something. That’s the department that is so sorely lacking. Guts. And all of it doesn’t even have to come from the same old tax this and tax that to death and accomplish zero. Just a little sacrifice is needed for the bigger good. The following generations. No more selfishness. I don’t see any other way. Well that’s my contribution. Like to hear other ideas, because the more ideas and even no matter how silly they may sound to someone, is still a contribution that could be important to the whole. The biggest hurdle to change is in government. They allowed the carnage to take place and so many are just to self serving and yes even gutless to make it happen. It’s all political to them of course.
(Response: I can’t see how the government could legislate prices down: what about people with mortgages/interest/taxes that already costing them more than they are collecting in rent or that want to sell, but still owe a huge mortgage? That just won’t work, but what would help if cities slashed their development charges, provinces dropped their sales taxes and the feds allowed (first time?) Canadian purchasers to deduct their mortgage costs. Those would be bold, but I believe, really helpful moves. Ho)
As I said, I believe it could work as you kind of answered some of it as contributing factors. A reset could happen of some kind with all brains ad wizards and a politically brave government to implement it. Mortgages could be reset to reflect a cost cut or home price cut. Everything has to be proportional. Of course its not politically safe for the ones who want to keep their positions in power or the big money makers from this big disgustingly bloated false market. Just ideas, but nothing sure.
(Response: Well, we clearly need ideas! When condos/homes in Vancouver are the highest in North America … and there are still lots of affordable condos/homes in Fort Lauderdale or Miami, clearly they are doing something different …that we should learn from and try. Ho)
I wish you and other snowbirds well in your endeavors and future. I pray for anyone’s safety in that chaos that Trump and his few thugs created that may possibly get worse. America is by the people and for the people, so that means in the end the only ones who really and rightfully can change the clock back and give the crazy orange man in the window both boots sideways is the people. But no matter the chaos and eggshells America is standing upon, be safe, and good luck.
Sadly Canadian homeowners will most likely be stuck in a world of s..t because the tea leaves weren’t read, or the writing on the wall was missed. Just wait until the long talked about primary residence equity tax comes one day to sober them up into angrily regretting they voted for the same bums that were slowly working on screwing them over. To bad Carney got voted in through the fear factor and that was enough to.makw people take their eyeboff the ball. The new face of the same old Trudeau carnage for is approaching or should I say, continuing, I believe. The one who was voted for as thier Prime Minister who is has parked his big money in a questionably run off shore tax haven. It’s okay for him the ruler but not okay for the people whom he rules over to have that privilege. What kind of example of a leader such as is Canada’s PM do that or aloud to do that while at the same time wanting to steal away more tax grabs from an already spent people with no protection and also lie through his teeth about fixing housing and affordabilty once again over and over as many politicians do. This is not okay and it is wrong. Even activist lover liar and flake Eby tells you dispicable fairy tales about why his greasy grimmies did certain.things to fix unaffordability and the housing issues that their policies are the answers to making things better whilst lying to you with hand in your wallets and purses and making everything worse. None of this is okay at all. Its not acceptable. Let’s not normalize bad things that our politicians do and are doing
I’ve always been on the side of tax the heck out of empty homes. Banishing foreign buyers doesn’t make sense when brand new condos are just sitting on the market. The unpleasant truth is that our insane housing market has been driving the economy for decades. Tough to pivot now.
(Response: Banishing foreign investors/buyers … especially Asian ones … has unfortunately become a politically popular scapegoat. It’s quite evident that other jurisdictions that have encouraged foreign buyers … without adding on outrageous municipal development charges … have not only seen development booms, but so many units built, prices are much more reasonable than in BC. Ho)
I’ve always been against taxing the hell out of anything, because I know that there was never any need for it if government didn’t mismanage and waste so much of our money and actually respected who voted for them. The regular mainsream majority. Now we’re in a different situation. The out of control and approaching trillion dollar debt, the housing unnaffordabiity and unaffordable everything that just shouldn’t be, but is because of really incompetent and horribly bad bad government leadership mainly brain dead morally bankrupt elitists, ideologically inclined extremist wackos of Justin Trudeaus time in office. Well somethings got to give and once again the last squeeze is probably going to come and guess who will be squeezed. You got it. The already broken homeowners and working class or what was once the vibrant middle class. Carneys in now but it’s the same team Trudeau. The next big windfall that these bums are likely eyeing up is your primary residence equity for taxation when you sell and that will be just a tax grab because it won’t solve anything. This is to far ahead of us. But whatever, home prices and costs have to come down sometime and the younger newer generations that work hard and are contributing to society have to be taken care of and need to have an affordable situation. This present siution is unsustainable. Somehow home and rental prices must be driven down for our future generations sake that are going to be carrying on. This just isn’t fair at all to them. Maybe a competent strong willed leadership wherever that is with the help of competent number crunchers and financial and business brains can figure a way to drive prices down on all fronts that are intertwined with homebuilding or just bying a home. Without taxation, which is the easy way out for the brain dead Trudeau gangsters still in power led by a rich elitist man with his tax protected off shore haven real state could be driven down but that would still mean homeowners equity would be less, but that equity gain is in reality just because of the bloated unrealistic market that was in my opinion driven mainly driven by big off shore money years ago, greed and government turning a willful blind eye to the corrupting of our financial order by many factors inside and outside Canada and in turn the people that actually count got screwed over. Greed and willful blindness in the banking and financial and development and big real estate sector also played into the governments ineptness, incompetence and cowardice that let it all happen. The BC NDP pulled a real excellently orchestrated big fat lie also with the hype that it was money laundering out of casinos was mainly the big player in everything bad, but it played a very tiny small part. God if only they could be made to eat that crow for thier disgusting lying and we even payed for a useless public inqiury in my view. They pulled a very good one over everyone’s eyes about how they would fix it and look at it all now. In the end though some kind of reset needs to happen for housing in particular and it’s not going to come through more taxation, or and equity tax specific or any other blind taxation ideas that some of the those professors and think tank groups like Generation Squeeze and other Trudeau era backrubbers and wacky do gooders who think just tax and build our way out to affordability. Those taxes just dissappear into the ether of, well, tax grabbing and disappearing right before our very eyeballs. It’s not just time for a reset of some sort, it’s also ayge near time for more pushback to come from Canadians to say Hell no, we aren’t going to take it anymore. Canadians can’t afford to be lulled into complacency anymore. Speak up before you don’t have anything left or controllable
I am so confused. A couple of years ago wasn’t everybody on this site upset about all the foreigners buying up homes and condos keeping them empty or being used by kids at university for the sole purpose of flipping them later on, driving up property values and making homes even less affordable, especially for young families.
Or was I reading that wrong.
And it’s not like it a bunch of sunbirds from Florida and Arizona are going to be buying up condos so they can spend a winter cooling off in Prince George. If that were the case by all means let them buy. But I doubt that’s the case.
I have no idea what the answer is to the housing crisis but from what I understand the foreign owners ban is one very small part because foreigner owners are not a huge part of the market to begin with so will only make a small dent.
According to the article you linked there will be 60% more unsold condos. Why isn’t that driving the prices down or if it is why is the price still out of reach of Canadian buyers.
So, yeh, I am confused.
(Response: Many people in BC still have a hate on for foreign buyers and frankly I think some of it is motivated by anti-Asian bias … by not only residents but some politicians too … using them as a scapegoat for allegedly driving up the high cost of housing. Truth is huge land costs, exorbitant municipal and regional development charges construction and and labour costs have played probably played the biggest role as well. Now, despite the ban on foreign buyers, prices have not come down significantly because pre-construction buyers paid more than they can now sell them for, so they’re just holding on. To bring down prices substantially or encourage rentals, foreign investment should be welcomed back, construction should be increased to increase supply and municipal development costs …. now $125,600 for an 800 square feet condo in Vancouver!!!) … should be lowered … a lot! You can read about that here https://www.biv.com/news/real-estate/vancouver-leads-nation-in-high-rise-development-charges-says-think-tank-10364117: Ho)
Having all those vacant new condos is not going to reduce the price. If the developers can afford to sit on them, they will From what I have read ,many of these condos are small, not suitable for room mates or families. (In Toronto)
Land in this province has become expensive and while it was going up in price in the past 50 years or so salaries weren’t. Lots of people were thrilled about rising prices, sellers could become instant millionaires. No one stopped to think where it all would go. Now we do.
As to blaming people from Asia for the rise in prices of homes, don’t think so. The people who immigrated to Canada became Canadian citizens. We have always had immigrants coming to Canada and its how the population grew. Its just now people of Asian descents are coming to Canada. I truly don’t see the difference between Asian immigrants or European immigrants. Going back to the 1950s and 60s, back lash to immigration was there whether you were European or not. about the only type of immigrant which was acceptable were Brits. Racism was alive and well and still is. all that has changed is the group which is targeted.
Part of the problem maybe how difficult it is to build something which is not “conforming” to current tastes or limits–limits set to keep other away. They used to just put it in contracts, No Jews, No Asians, No people of colour, etc.
We need to have more flexibility in what can be built, not lowering building standards but just what can be built. In Toronto they were looking at building 6 plexes on one lot to house more people. It was also going to provide options for families. They woukl only be built on corner lots. The back lash is some what like it would be if the goal was to build a brothel and drug house on each corner lot. Many people don’t want to live in high rises but there aren’t a whole lot of alternatives if you want something smaller, like small houses.
Cities charge builders and I’m fine with that. It costs cities a fair chunk of change when developers start expanding the number of people who live in a city and the cities are faced with increased costs for services, etc. Taxpayers don’t need to support developers.
I don’t think there has been a real national housing strategy ever beyond, lets make a lot of money We also didn’t put much thought into infrastructure and so getting around is expensive and exhaustive. Developers built a lot of homes in Surrey but no one sat down and said, gee perhaps we should start building new roads, bridges, schools and hospitals so now we have clogged roads, not enough hospitals, etc. The log jam out to Langley, ditto.
Government built and owned housing can work. In the Netherlands not that long ago 40% of all housing was owned by the government. Its not who owns the housing, its how its run or not run We have seen that in New York.
cutting red tape, good idea. yes building standars for safety need to be adhereed to, but this change this, change that, no that corner can’t be there is just so much b.s.
All in all, all the political parties no matter how well intentioned haven’t done a great job of providing housing in Canada, except for Veterans returning after WW II. I remember all those apartment buildings in Kits built for Veterans and then they were all sold in the 1970s/80s to private developers. Government owned land ought not to be sold to private interests. We may not need it now, but we will in the future.
(Response: I don’t object to densification (within reason) and agree red tape should be cut wherever possible without sacrificing standards. As for municipal development charges, I just don’t believe that if a 25-story building is put up, it costs $126,000 to provide infrastructure services for each 850 square feet condo! At that rate, on top of land, lumber, steel, construction costs … affordable housing will always remain just a politician’s empty promise. Ho)
The housing issue has been so mishandles, so shredded for politcal purposes, that one must start from scratch to find a coherent solution.
What must be done is not done as the density issue has been so manipulated from increasing population along rapid transit lines to artificially increase ridership, to a demand for higher and higher towers.
Unpleasant hint: Mode share of the population using transit in the lower mainland is steadily falling, but higher ridership is maintained due to population increase. This has lead to an increase in car use, and endemic congestion and gridlock in metro Vancouver.
The failure of the NDP to actually deal with the problem and Eby utter and wilful blindness to solutions other than the anointed NDP ones will condemn the region to more homelessness, tent cites and much higher taxes.
As for those snowbirds going south, from recent news reports, they are thinning out and as Trump (from the news today) has started his coup d’etat by “taking over” Washington DC by the military, holidaying in the excited states maybe far more risky than one would think.
In my cohort (age 70) a lot of former snow birds have pulled up stakes and have disposed of their properties, condos in Arizona and the Springs. In 6 months, the USA has gone from madness to absolute lunacy.
(Response: As I mentioned in my blog piece, some Canadian snowbirds have been selling … but not just because of the Mad Hatter: Travel Health Insurance is getting very expensive and the Canadian dollar is in the toilet compared to the US. BUT when they sell, others are buying …and a lot of those are still outsiders, from other states and increasingly from South America. Imagine: so much income from outsiders paying FULL taxes, no state Income tax!! Clearly, Florida is benefitting from outside buyers! Ho)
Hi Harvey, another “dart to the heart” of our very brain dead provincial government. Just as they don’t see all of the ancillary benefits of having our own ferries built here, they don’t see any of the benefits you listed for foreign or out of province property owners. The only things they seem to be good at, are creating make work projects for the vast number of bureaucrats we employ. The people, whose only job is to create work for themselves, to make sure the peasants know who makes the rules.
One example would be; each year, having to fill out the form for the vacancy tax. They then tell us, it only affects small number of households. Would it not then, be more efficient, to make reporting any change to the usage of said home, the responsibility of the homeowner, and subject to inspection, at any time.
One of the worst things Canadians have to put up with, thanks to Trudeau senior, is, No Property Rights. One of the big failings of our Charter!
(Response: The BC and Canadian governments don’t get it on two major fronts. First supply and demand: if you want to bring prices down, increase the supply. Foreign buyers who buy properties for investment bring billions of dollars into the economy (ask Florida, Arizona, Caribbean Islands, Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, Portugal) and, as I wrote, use very few public services. Most absentee buyers rent out their units to recoup costs; a higher empty homes tax could discourage those who would leave them empty. But not building, because foreign buyers are banned, clearly is not solving the problem. Ho)